The Hunt
by Lawrence Payne
Summary: The line between hunter and the hunted just got thinner.


Title: The Hunt

Author: Lawrence Payne R for Graphic Language.

Timeline: Post Season 7.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. A whole slew of other people own these characters and concepts.

Comments: Constructive feedback is always appreciated. :)

Archiving: If you want to, sure. Feel free. Just tell me if you do.

Summary: The line between hunter and the hunted just got thinner.

Author's Notes: Special thanks goes to my new friend Kimm for helping me out with the NYC info, and to Arya for beta reading for me.

Also, this fic is rated R for graphic language. If you are offended by swear words, stop here.

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**The Hunt.**

"Dull..." Maxine said as she scrutinized the crowd entering the New York City Port Authority building from one of the many balconies. Her lightly crossed knee and slumped posture made her the picture of boredom. She brushed a wayward strand of jet-black hair behind her ear. The charcoal lipstick she wore contrasted heavily against her pale round face. She held her head up with her right hand while she constantly drummed her black fingernails on the top of her fishnet-covered knee.

"Too short... Too weird looking... WAAAY too fat!... Uuggh! You have got to be kidding me? How hard is it to find one person in this town with some fashion sense?"

"Maxine," Jake growled angrily as he paced back and forth behind her. "Will you just fucking pick one already! I'm hungry!"

"Chill Jake. I'm shopping... Bad hair... Bad skirt... Bad Everything!"

"Fucking pick one! I'm..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're hungry. I know... WHOOO! Totally fugly. A couple dozen surgeries might, MIGHT, upgrade that one to just plain ugly."

"MAXINE!" Jake yelled.

"I said chill already? I'm deciding."

"It doesn't fucking matter! Just fucking pick one!"

"It does matter. We can't just grab the first person we see."

"Why the fuck not!"

"Remember Fairfield? You were hungry and that homeless guy was the first mark you saw. He made all of us sick cause his blood was all gunked up and shit. Besides, I need some new clothes."

"What the fuck for?"

"Cause I'm sick and tired of looking like a Criss Angel reject," Maxine gestured at her clothes, "and that retro 'thing' you've got on was last year two years ago. I'm not going to spend another minute walking around NYC in these crappy threads."

"I don't give a fuck about your fucking wardrobe Maxine! I'm fucking hungry!"

"Jake?" Joan interrupted. Her high-arched nose and narrow face showed slight smears of dirt and sweat, the telltale signs of a long bus trip. Her plaid blouse, button-gaped and tattered, was tied at the waist, her ample cleavage still fully displayed.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT JOAN?"

"Leave Maxine alone."

"Fuck that! Maxine's suppose to pick, so she should fucking pick already!"

"I know you're hungry Jake. We all are. But Maxine wants some new threads. That's cool. Let her find a mark with some style."

"I fucking told you. I don't give a fuck about Maxine's fucking sense of style! Quit fucking around and pick one! I'M HUNGRY!"

"Calm down Jake," Maxine interjected. "It's not just me. All of us could use some new threads, and we have next to no cash. We can't walk around a city like New York looking like this."

"WHY THE FUCK NOT!"

"We need new clothes," Joan calmly stated. "Because we need to hunt. We can't hunt looking like this Jake."

"Yeah," Maxine said. "We stick out like crazy already. The clothes you and Joan have on are really old, and Mike is still wearing the same outfit he was sired in. I'm the only one who can hunt 'cause I'm the only one who looks halfway decent."

Hearing his name mentioned did not sway Mike's attention. He kept his silence while his friends argued. He sat on the old wooden chair and continued to smoke his cigarette.

Through a cracked and dingy window, Mike stared at the bright lights of New York City. He marveled at Manhattan's magnificent skyline and tried to imagine himself in the middle of it all. When he was alive, he had always dreamed of coming to the Big Apple. Sitting here now with his dream just minutes away from becoming reality, it was almost more than he could bear.

At that moment, Mike made a silent promise to himself. He was going to make this town his own. All he needed was some cash and some new clothes, and he was going to take this town by the throat and suck the life right out of it.

Whoever ran this town before him and his gang got here better watch out, because this city was his now.

Mike knew he was going to love it here.

"The only reason I've got decent threads," Maxine continued, "is 'cause I got lucky. That biker chick in Albany was my size. Thing is, the little bitch had the balls to not have any cash on her. I mean come on! No cash. No credit cards. No ATM cards. Nothing. What a wasted kill."

"SOOOO!"

"So," Joan said. "We need a mark with some cash, hopefully some credit cards we can pawn and maybe even a car if we're lucky."

"And," Maxine added. "Whoever I choose has to be big enough to feed all of us. At least until we can score some new threads."

"The only way to get all that from a single kill is to pick someone that looks like they might have some money."

"And that," Maxine beamed. "Means shopping!"

"Just hurry the fuck up," Jake said. His anger had only somewhat subsided.

Jake Thompson was not use to taking orders. He was supposed to be the one giving them. Being the first-born son of a wealthy family had certain advantages. Among them was the ability to order other people around.

When Jake was alive, he got everything he ever wanted. If he wanted something, be it girls, money, cars, clothes, whatever, he would just snap his fingers and his parents made it happen.

When he turned 16, he got his very first car, a top-of-the-line Mercedes Benz SLK240 Roadster. At 17, the straight C student went from being the quarterback of a prestigious Catholic high school to Starting Quarterback for an esteemed major college football program in his freshmen year. His family's connections and some well-greased palms got him the position. Life was good. Then one day, he decided to go to a late night party. Little did he know that that night would end his life, and change the very nature of his existence. At that party, he met an attractive young girl named Joan who changed his perfect little life forever, by ending it.

Jake when from being big man on campus to soulless bloodsucking monster literally overnight. The hardest part of his new existence was getting use to his new status. The idea that he was no longer in control was a hard pill for the former athlete to swallow. He did not like it. Not one bit. But he had no choice. On this team, Joan was Starting Quarterback, and he was just warming the bench.

Another bus pulled in the Port Authority station. Maxine continued to examine all of the departing passengers.

"Boring... Boring again... Sigh. Boring a third time... Skanksville... Wait!... Waaaait!... There you go. Hello salty goodness! Scope it. Bright-eyed Asian shorty with the ponytail. 10 o'clock." Maxine pointed to a teenage girl exiting a bus. Jake, Joan and Mike rushed to her side.

"Look at her," Joan said. "That skirt alone must have cost $50."

"Yeah, It'll look great on me."

The foursome hurriedly gathered up their few belongings and ran to the stairs.

"What do you think?" Maxine asked Joan as they ran down the stairwell. "She look dumb enough to fall for the old 'Come With Me. I'm An Undercover Security Cop' routine, or should I use the 'Come Quick! My Friend is Dying!' bit that I used in Hanover again."

"Neither," Joan answered after the group reached the abandoned train platform. "Just do the 'I'm New In Town' bit and get her to follow you here. We'll be hiding in the train."

"You guys know the plan?" Joan asked the guys. They both nodded in agreement.

"Get going Max," Joan said. "Your new skirt is waiting for you."

"And hurry the fuck up!" Jake said.

"You're hungry," both Joan and Maxine said in unison. "We know."

With that, Maxine ran to the main platform to find the mark while Joan, Jake and Mike found good places to hide.

Five minutes later, Maxine walked into the abandoned platform with the young girl in tow.

"Nice huh?" Maxine said as she looked around the empty platform.

The girl said nothing. She kept her stoic stance, her eyes constantly fixed on Maxine.

"It's so peaceful in this part of the station. So quiet. Not a soul around for miles."

That was the cue. Joan, Jake and Mike jumped out of their hiding spots and encircled the girl.

"She give you a hard time?" Joan asked Maxine.

"Na. She was a good little victim." Maxine pinched the Asian girl's cheek while she said, "Wasn't she?" Her tone was that of a condescending adult addressing a child.

"Told you the old 'I'm Your Buddy' trick works best."

"Didn't need it. She doesn't speak English. I just gestured for her to follow me and total dumbass that she is, she just did."

Maxine leaned in closer to the girl's face as she said, "Dumbass! Right?" while she poked her in the chest.

Maxine then started laughing. The others laughed too. The circle around the Asian girl got smaller as Joan, Jake and Mike slowly closed in. They had positioned themselves in just such a way that any one of them could catch her if she tried to run away. It was a tactic they had used dozens of times before to frighten and intimidate their victims. This was the first time it did not work.

The Asian girl just stood there, silent and unafraid.

From the moment Mike had laid eyes on this girl, he knew something was off about her. Something about this chick just rubbed him the wrong way. The gang had put on one hell of a show, and they had nothing to show for it. They still had not gotten any reaction from this girl.

Most marks, especially the young girls, were crying their eyes out by now, imagining all of the horrible things they were about to endure. But not this girl. This girl was cool as a cucumber, and just as talkative. That alone was just plain weird. Now that he was able to study her up close, his uneasy feelings doubled.

At that moment, a conversation Joan and the others had a couple weeks earlier came into his head.

The gang was hanging out at a bar in Newark when some skanky-ass guttersnipe that dared call itself a vampire came running in. The guttersnipe was all freaked out; she was yelling... something or other. Once she calmed down, she started rambling on about there being hundreds of... somethings in the world now, and that everything in the Underworld would be dead soon because of... whatever it was.

Mike racked his brain. He tried as hard as he could, but he just couldn't put his finger on what that... thing was. For some unknown reason, that conversation seemed real important right now.

"What's with her?" Joan asked. "Doesn't she know she's going to die?"

"Na," Maxine taunted. She began clicking her fingers in front of the girl's face. "She's too stupid! Right!"

The Asian girl's calm silence was finally broken when she said, "Siu meh ah baht Po?" in a hostile tone.

"What she say?" Joan asked.

"Who gives a fuck!" Jake growled as he revealed his true nature.

Jake's face quickly changed. His strong handsome features were replaced by long rows of ugly dark bumps on his cheeks and foreheads, small yellow eyes, and razor sharp fangs. Joan and the others quickly followed suit and revealed their true nature.

Jake lunged at the girl.

What happened next occurred so swiftly it could barely be seen by the naked eye. In one swift motion, the Asian girl reached into her jacket, pulled out a sharp piece of wood and rammed it into Jake's heart. Jake made a loud screaming noise as he instantly turned to dust.

Mike and Maxine were in shock. The two vampires stood frozen in place, both paralyzed by fear. The sight of the biggest and most powerful member of their foursome dying that quickly had instantly demoralized them.

Joan was the only one to act. She was fast enough to land a right cross to the Asian girl's jaw, causing her to drop her stake. The girl went down, but it was only for a second. She quickly recovered from the blow and was back on her feet a second later. Joan tried a front kick to her opponent's chest, but it was blocked.

The Asian girl was back on the offensive with a couple of quick jabs of her own. Joan blocked the first one, dodged the second and deflexed the third. She grabbed the girl's extended forearm and pulled her forward. When she was slightly off-balance, Joan nailed her with a right cross to the jaw. While the girl was still disoriented, Joan spun on her heels and landed a powerful tornado kick to the girl's temple.

Joan's flurry of offense hurt the Asian girl, but it did stop her.

A second later, the Asian girl's quick reflexes allowed her to take the initiative. From a kneeling position, she punched Joan in the stomach, causing the vampire to buckle over. Once she was back on her feet, the girl nailed Joan with a powerful uppercut to the jaw. Before she even had the chance to fall over, the girl grabbed her by the arm and flung her into one of the nearby concrete columns.

Joan was quick to recover. She was back on her feet in seconds. She tried a roundhouse kick aimed at the Asian girl's head that was easily blocked. Joan tried a right hook next. It was also blocked. Another blocked punch, another missed kick and a failed attempt to knock her opponent off balance with a shoulder block caused Joan's frustration level to rise.

Desperate to end this fight quickly, Joan launched into a powerful flying crescent kick. It was the biggest and most impressive weapon in her fighting arsenal. Used at the proper time, it would have literary taken her opponent's head off, but Joan used it too early in the fight.

It was the biggest, and the last mistake, Joan ever made.

The Asian girl anticipated the attack. In a single fluid motion, she countered Joan's kick by ducking under it. With her body now in perfect position for a kick of her own, the girl executed an extremely powerful side kick aimed at Joan's chest.

Joan's kick hit nothing but air while the Asian girl's kick was right on the money. The powerful blow sent the vampire flying backward several feet, her momentum forced her into a nearby concrete wall.

After Joan's semi-conscious body slammed into the wall, she began to fall forward. She would have fallen flat on her face if the Asian girl had not grabbed her and pinned her to the wall. While Joan was busy flying into the wall, she had time to quickly scoop up her dropped stake.

The Asian girl reached back and rammed her stake into Joan's heart with maximum force. Another loud screaming noise broke the air as Joan turned to dust.

With Joan and Jake gone, the Asian girl turned her attention to Mike and Maxine.

Mike was the first to snap out of his stupor. He finally remembered what that slutty-looking vampire in Newark was talking about.

"SLAYER!" he shouted to Maxine. "She's a Slayer! RUN!"

It was the first thing he had said in almost three days.

It was also the last thing he was ever going to say.

Both Mike and Maxine ran for the sewer entrance, but the Asian girl was too fast for them. She moved with incredible speed. Her swiftness allowed her to quickly close the gap between them.

Mike was about half way down the platform when she tackled him. She rammed her stake into his back, piercing his heart with the sharpened wood. She was on her feet and off after Maxine before he even began to turn.

Maxine made it to the sewer entrance door. She got the door partially open when the Asian girl closed it by running into it with a shoulder block. Maxine screamed in pain as the heavy steel door violently slammed on her left hand, severing the appendage at the wrist. The girl then nailed Maxine with a powerful backhand shot to the side of her face that knocked her onto her back.

"I won't do it anymore!" Maxine franticly pleaded as she tried to crawl away. "I won't hurt anybody! Not anymore! I promise!"

In Cantonese, the Asian girl said, "Sorry kid. I can't understand a word you're saying. I don't speak English that well."

Then she reached down and rammed her stake into Maxine's heart.

Chao Ahn took one last look around the platform to make sure there were no other vampires in the vicinity. Once she confirmed the coast was clear, she pulled out her cell phone and pressed the first number on her speed dial. The call was answered on the second ring.

"H.Q." Dawn Summers said.

"Xī xiě Boffy guǐ bàn suí..." Chao Ahn started to say. Dawn quickly cut her off.

"Chao Ahn! Choa Ahn! My Cantonese is still really bad. You're going to fast. Slow down. Ehh?... Jiǎn huǎn. Jiǎn huǎn."

"OK. Umm?... I... try... English."

"Great! Wow, that was really good. OK go."

"Teel Boffy... Hee Vampliers... I Umm?... tack... too... new sity."

" 'The vampires you tracked to New York City...' OK. Go on."

"R... Umm?... Ehh?... Allred."

"What?"

"All red."

"All red? Ohh! All dead. You mean 'all dead.' "

"Yes. All... read."

"OK. 'Tell Buffy the vampires you tracked to New York City are all dead.' Got it. Great job Chao Ahn. Will you be coming home now?"

Chao Ahn did not answer. Through a cracked and dingy window, she stared at the bright lights of New York City. Her mind wandered back to her childhood.

She remembered growing up in the tiny, unnamed village on the Banpo River. She remembered how difficult and unfulfilling life was there. Growing up, she had always dreamed of living in a big city. Now, thanks to Willow's spell, and the new Watcher Council, she could.

The New Watcher's Council had already provided her with a place to stay in the city, no reason it should go to waste just cause the vampires she was after were already dead. Plus, she could get weapons and supplies from the Slayer Training Center in the city whenever she needed them. She could not have asked for a more perfect set up.

"Choa Ahn? Are you there? I asked if you were coming back to headquarters. Ehh... Nín? Wèi lái? Běn lěi? You? Coming? Home?"

"No," she said into the phone before abruptly hanging up.

At that moment, Chao Ahn made a silent promise to herself. She was going to make New York City her new home. She could work out the details with Buffy later. Right now, she wanted to do some serious exploring.

Chao Ahn took another look at the majestic Manhattan skyline through the dingy window.

In perfect Cantonese, she shouted, "To all of the vampires in this city! You are not welcome here! This is my home now! Leave while you can! Or stay and be destroyed!"

Chao Ahn smiled. She knew she was going to love it here.

END

A/N 2: Under the 'just so you know' category of things. I don't speak a word of Cantonese. I mean that whole-heartedly. I don't know a single Cantonese word or phase. On the off chance that someone reading this actually does know/speak Chinese or Cantonese, then the few phrases and words I used probably are nothing but gibberish to you. If I hurt or insulted your culture (or worse insulted you), then please accept my apologies. That was not my intention. My intent was to use one of my favorite Potentials in a fic, not to snub or slur anyone's culture. Also, every piece of Cantonese dialog used in this story came from two web sites. The Pinyin (as I understand it, this is the English phonetic spellings of Chinese words) version is used.

In the vampire gang's section, According to "Siu meh ah baht Po?" means "What are you laughing at bitch?" in Cantonese.

Here is the URL: http/ don't download the Active X controller that it asks you to. Could be spyware. Or worse.)

In Chao Ahn's section, all words were created using the online English to Simplified-Traditional Chinese Dictionary. Here is the URL: http/ if you are reading this from one of the writing newsgroups then all of the special character sets used in Pinyin have been removed to accommodate the environment.


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